The 2003 edition of CWI's business day CWI in Bedrijf on October, 17 featured a novelty: Erik Huizer of NOB Cross Media Facilities demonstrated the set top box that will be used in several Dutch internet video pilot projects. This device shows DVD quality web broadcasts like NOB's First Mile TV on an ordinary television screen. The demonstration was part of Huizer's presentation on the current state of affairs of internet video broadcasting.
Huizer and three fellow speakers discussed various aspects of games and entertainment, the theme of this year's CWI in Bedrijf. Jorrit Kuipers of Green Dino Virtual Realities explained how elements of computer games could be used in multimedia presentations. He illustrated his presentation with several fragments of Green Dino projects like the Escher Ride, a virtual tour through the art of M.C. Escher. Computer chess specialist Jaap van den Herik of Maastricht University treated the modelling of computer opponents in classical board games like chess, checkers and go. Mark Overmars (University of Utrecht) argued that computer games development should be taken seriously as a science. The first Dutch games research conference Level Up in November this year, showed Overmars is not alone in this opinion.
The 2500 visitors of the open day of the Sciencepark Amsterdam the next day could learn more about math and computer science in a playful way. CWI's paper airplane contest proved to be extremely popular. All day participants worked on their designs and found out which plane could cover the largest distance. While SARA Computing and Networking Services gave a demonstration of their virtual reality environment CAVE, CWI showed its own VR facilities, the Personal Space Station. This system not only immerses people in a virtual world, but also allows them to manipulate objects in this environment. Furthermore, the visitors' minds were challenged by several mathematical games and puzzles.
